Publishing house Osnovy promoted Ukrainian photography through many of its publications. From provocative erotic collection to the portraits of female railroad employees — hundreds of shots by Ukrainian photographers were printed in Osnovy’s heavy avant-garde books.
But Ukrainian photography is too rich and versatile to be contained in several themed publications.
To give the local photographers a platform they truly deserve, Osnovy has launched biannual magazine Saliut, featuring shots by both emerging and well-known Ukrainians. To reach as big an audience as possible, the magazine will be printed in English.
“Our task is to tell the world about Ukrainian culture and art,” Dana Pavlychko, the director of Osnovy, told the Kyiv Post.
Called “Female,” the debut issue will be published in March, exposing female photographers who documented or explored different stages in a woman’s life working in various genres and styles.
“With this issue, we wanted to introduce Ukrainian women in photography and give them a voice,” Pavlychko said.
The magazine’s first edition will come in 1,000 copies, which will be distributed for free among art institutions and stores in Ukraine, as required by the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation that funded it. All subsequent issues will be available for purchase through Osnovy.
Heritage
Photography has long been considered a mostly male job, especially while Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.
Still, there were prominent female photographers throughout Ukrainian history, says Halyna Hleba, art historian and researcher of contemporary art and photography who was also the editor of Saliut’s first issue.
In 2020, French publisher Textuel listed four Ukrainians among 300 most outstanding female photographers in “A Global History of Female Photographers.” They were Sophia Yablonska, Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit, Rita Ostrovska and Iryna Pap. Each of them has left an imprint in Ukrainian and global culture.
Saliut will spotlight shots by Pap, who is considered most famous and prominent Ukrainian female photographer of the Soviet era.
Pap managed to become a successful photojournalist in the rather patriarchal Soviet society. She also founded a photography school under the Union of Journalists of Ukraine, that raised a number of star photographers including Viktor Maruschenko and Valerii Kerekesh.
The new English-language magazine by Osnovy publishing house is set to promote Ukrainian photography. Apart from contemporary artist, the first issue of the magazine also features photographs by Iryna Pap, one of Ukraine’s most prominent female photographers of the Soviet era. (Osnovy Publishing)
Upon Pap’s invitation, foreign artists came to Ukraine to teach locals the trends of photography at the time. That was new for Ukraine, according to Hleba.
The new generation of Ukrainian photographers emerged back then. They were more free and innovative in their artistic expression, breaking ground in the pseudo-optimistic Soviet photography that was more propaganda than documentary.
But they were mostly men.
Only in the 1990s, when Ukraine finally gained independence, that the number of female photographers in the country started to increase along with the new sense of freedom.
Thirty years later, the country is blooming with female photographers and the diversity of their artwork will soon be showcased on Saliut’s pages.
Two covers
Many Ukrainians would be familiar with the title of the magazine that triggers an instant association with photography. Saliut is the name of a locally popular film camera that was manufactured at the Arsenal plant in Kyiv in the 1950–1970s.
The publication has an ambitious goal of exploring various themes and styles that define the Ukrainian photography of the past and today.
The front and center of the first issue is a woman, both behind and in front of the camera. It brings together over 180 pictures by 24 photographers and art groups, whose shots explore a woman’s life through documentary, landscape, portrait and fashion genres.
“We wanted to emphasize that there are many female photographers and each of them makes powerful and self-sufficient projects,” Hleba says.
The shots collected for the issue turned out so impressive that Saliut’s team was lost when picking a cover, eventually giving up on the idea of settling for one and choosing two instead.
Photographs by renowned Ukrainian artist Polina Polikarpova are among 184 pictures featured in the first issue of Saliut, a new magazine by Osnovy publishing house that aims to promote Ukrainian photography. (Osnovy Publishing)
One of them is a tender and intimate self-portrait of Julia Kafizova, picturing her from the back, naked, sitting by the window, as her tan line matches the window frame line.
The second one is a provocative shot by Jane Laptiy showing a part of a male face with red-colored lips and a cigarette hanging from his mouth.
“(The first issue) is so ambivalent, gentle and bellicose and sometimes provocative and very sentimental,” Hleba says, adding that it would be extremely difficult to choose one photograph to represent the whole collection.
What was a creative decision born out of necessity now serves as an unusual feature making Saliut stand out. That’s why the two-cover format will stick around in the subsequent issues.
“You can order a magazine having no idea what cover you will receive,” Pavlychko says.
Chapters
The 168-page “Female” edition of Saliut is divided into three chapters “Childhood,” “Youth” and “Adulthood.”
“We wanted to show a certain mental and age stage in a person’s life, in particular in the life of a woman,” Hleba says.
“Childhood,” the magazine’s first chapter, explores children’s affection with mothers and the many joys of this infantile and playful period. It starts with the series of Ukrainian photographer Katya Lesiv, capturing motherhood through touching but powerful photographs of her own child.
“Childreach” is a project by contemporary Ukrainian photographer Yana Hryhorenko that features brightly-colored pictures of unusual playgrounds in Ukraine. It was published in the “Childhood” chapter of the new Saliut magazine by Osnovy publishing house.
Another project in the chapter is “Childreach” by Yana Hryhorenko. It features brightly-colored pictures of unusual playgrounds photographed in Kyiv and the city of Bila Tserkva in Kyiv Oblast, Hryhorenko’s hometown.
The second chapter, “Youth,” is less serene. It focuses on a period of acceptance of oneself, one’s sexuality, as well as young women’s struggle of meeting the expectations put upon them by modern society.
“It’s about the need to understand who you are and where you are,” Hleba says.
Both of the cover photographs belong to the “Youth” period.
Another prominent project in the chapter is Anna Melnykova’s “Largo.” It addresses the gender roles and a woman’s search for a perfect man through seductive photographs that resemble Renaissance paintings.
The last chapter, “Adulthood,” is about life experience, wrinkles and cracks of adult life.
“This is probably the most emotionally and visually difficult chapter of the magazine,” Hleba says.
“The Dream of White Socks” series by Alina Smutko spotlights women forced to have abortions. It features heartbreaking photographs and stories of women who lost their children.
One of the photographers in the “Female” issue, Hryhorenko, says she was happy to join the project not just because of the opportunity to showcase her work. The artist believes that the magazine can contribute to a better understanding of photography by the public.
“(The launch of) Saliut is an absolutely grand event,” Hryhorenko told the Kyiv Post. “All over the world there is no doubt that photography is a part of art — in our country, this understanding is just beginning to take shape.”
The first issue of Saliut will be out in March — the date hasn’t been set yet. It will be distributed for free in art institutions and stores. The list of the locations will be published at www.saliutmag.com. The next issues will be available to buy through Osnovy’s store set to open in May and its website at www.osnovypublishing.com.
